ARRL Certification Program
Emergency Communications
Basic Training

Education and training is important because you need to have confidence that you can execute the required steps in the shortest amount of time, with the minimum amount of wasted motion.  Hesitancy and indecisiveness will quickly tire you, as you are expending more mental energy than required, and that would soon dull your senses.  So, educate yourself and train before the skills are needed.

Education and training is important so that you acquire the basic skills required to function as part of a team. Emergency communicators are part of an adaptive team that can rely and support one another.  All members must function as a cohesive unit.  Individuals may possess great operating skills; however, they will perform inadequately and impact the level and quality of service to the served agency if they cannot communicate and work on a team.

• Find an organization active in developing emergency communicators.  Find an ARES, RACES or similar program in your community.  Ask around at your local amateur radio club meeting.
• Undergo an educational/training program.
• Unlearn what you have learned.
• There are false concepts on emergency communications that are due to people's impressions and are not based on what has been tested and evaluated in actual field experience.  Some of the most powerful emergency communications key operating principles differ from traditional daily amateur radio practices, simply because emergency communications requires a network message relay stations to be built from scratch and operating within minutes or hours of an activation.


This is something that is not done routinely by amateur operators in the normal course of enjoying the pasttime.  It is important to seek out educational material that is based on sound practices refined with actual field experience.  Be open to learning new material, and the rationale why it works.

• Unlike individual amateur radio operators operating from a single station at home or in the mobile, emergency communications involves radio operators forming teams and relaying messages using both similar and dissimilar techniques simultaneously.Knowledgeable emergency communicators know very well that it's not a case of choosing which method is the "single one-size-fits-all method" for getting the job done but rather that it's a mix of techniques, whichever is appropriate for that particular message.  These radio operators must work well and integrate with their host emergency management agency.  While the lower levels of the operations may resemble and borrow from our personal experience as amateur radio technicians and operators, it requires personal growth to operate in a challenging an environment such as the one that materializes during an emergency.
• Emergency Management
• Learn about the Incident Command System.
• Learn about emergency management agencies in your area.
• Learn about how disaster declarations are escalated from the county mayor or local official(s), to the state governer, to the nation's president -- paving the way for outside relief and aid.
• Learn about how requests for mutual aid are handled within your community during a disaster.
• Find out about the notification/activation tree for emergency communicators and sign-up as a team member.
• It's highly recommended to take a first aid course.  It's knowledge you can use anytime, anywhere.
• Equip yourself
• Get a NOAA Weather Radio with digital SAME alert.  Program it with the FIPS code for your area.
• Put together a quick deployment bag with your spare radio equipment, antennas, coax, clipboard, pens, IDs, etc.  Place your checklist of last minute items (fresh batteries, water, etc) into the bag as well.
• Put together a 72 hour pack, useful for both field deployment and emergency evacuation.
• Learn about Emergency Communications Procedures
• Practice checking into and out of nets.  Practice operating in a net.
• Practice becoming Net Control.
• Practice sending and receiving ARRL Radiogram messages.
• Practice participating in a tactical network, such as a parade or marathon.
• Learn about Emergency Communications Equipment
• Learn and practice HF.
• Learn and practice NVIS.
• Learn and practice VHF/UHF simplex practices.
• Learn and practice Packet Radio.

• Check with your local ARES official (SEC, DEC, EC, AEC, etc).
• Check with your local amateur radio clubs.
• Check with your local agency - Civil Defense, American Red Cross, National Weather Service, Salvation Army, etc.
• Check with your local church, county or state-wide denomination.